I sit back and look at him, wondering what is happening here. Something fun, but something serious. Something serious is happening and I have no idea how.
‘Ben,’ I say, trying to lighten the tone, ‘let’s just dial it back a bit – go slow.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,’ he says.
‘I can’t tell if you’re taking the piss?’
‘I’m not,’ he answers, shaking his head. ‘I sort of regret how fast we slept together. I like you. You like me, right?’
I think about this for a second, but realise I do. I do like Ben. I nod, unwilling to give more away just yet.
‘Good. Then where’s the hurry?’
He sits back and the waitress appears, carrying our very delicate-looking fry-ups. These aren’t the kind of fry-ups I’m used to, but Ben looks very at home. The waitress is still trying to get his attention, but Ben’s oblivious, watching me, gauging my reaction.
After she’s gone I reply coolly, ‘No hurry. All right then,’ I go on, noticing this is not the first time Ben’s set me a challenge. ‘We’ll go slow. No more sex.’
‘Until you fall in love with me,’ he’s quick to point out.
‘Ugh! Fine. And what about you falling in love with me?’ I counter, because it’s my turn to set a challenge.
He smiles, says nothing for a moment. ‘OK. If we both fall in love with each other, we can sleep together.’
‘That’s not what I mean,’ I say, although I’m not sure exactly what it is Idomean.
Ben lifts his Mimosa glass, waits for me to raise mine and we clink gently. ‘To falling in love before we’re allowed to bang again.’
‘Oh, bloody hell,’ I say in despair because that is the weirdest toast ever. But Ben’s already laughing and there’s a part of me that regrets the challenge, because I quite enjoyed sleeping with him. And that’s probably not going to happen again, as I’m definitely not going to fall in love with him.
CHAPTER SIX
‘How’d it go?’ I ask Liv when Ben and I make it back to the flat a few hours later.
He held my hand on the Tube journey back and I kind of liked it. I like the attention. I like how much Ben likes me. I like how now that I’ve digested the concept of this challenge, it’s quite sensible really. We’re getting to know each other. And I love that idea. And there will be no more casual sex, which is a good thing. Maybe. Although that was my first and only one-night stand – and look where it’s leading. I like Ben’s mad suggestion. He’s intense, but he knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to be vulnerable in asking for it. And if it doesn’t work out over the next few dates, then at least we haven’t ruined our fledgling friendship by adding any more sex into the mix.
‘What did Ollie say?’ I ask Liv when I find her in the kitchen trying to prise a cork out of a bottle of wine. She’s got the bottle between her legs and looks as if she’s about to break it, or explode through her own eyes, while trying.
‘Do you know how to open these?’ she huffs. ‘I can never get the cork out.’
‘I’ve never used a corkscrew,’ I say. ‘I only drink wine with screw-caps.’
Ben enters the kitchen and takes it from Liv, pulls the cork out with ease.
‘I thought you worked in a restaurant?’ he asks me.
‘Not a good one,’ I confess.
‘So,’ Ben goes on, handing the bottle back to Liv and retrieving four glasses, as if we’re automatically invited to drink Liv’s wine. ‘You and Ollie, eh? Spill?’
I should chastise Ben for being nosy, but I want to know too, so I keep quiet.
Liv gives Ben aCan you piss off?look that he interprets correctly. He takes two glasses of wine and leaves. ‘I’ll make Aurora tell me later anyway, you know,’ he says with a chuckle. I hear him shout for Ollie as he enters the corridor on the way to his room. ‘Ollie, mate! Singapore Grand Prix’s on. I’ve got wine. Come on.’
Ollie calls out in the affirmative and the two of them head to Ben’s room.
‘Oh,’ Liv mutters sadly as she hears Ben’s door automatically close on the hinges.
‘I think Ben’s trying to clear the path for us to gossip,’ I say.
